Representation Within Our Music Video

Michelle Richards

 As Naomi Chomsky states Narrative is fundamental to the

human understanding we therefore wanted to make sure
our narrative of our music video is engaging but yet clear for
our audience. Therefore our music video had to include the
essential things to portray Illness,through the mise-en-scene,
narrative, costume and making sure our visuals link in well
with our lyrics.
In our music video, we wanted to portray the narrative of
Illness. We therefore thought carefully about how to do this.
Theorists that we can apply to our music video:
Andy Medhurst- Stereotyping is shorthand for identification
Tessa Perkins- Stereotyping has elements of truth and are
based on repeated representations, both in society and
within the media.

Costume-School Uniform

When we figured out what our new narrative was going to

be, we had to think about the type of costumes we wanted
to include and how well they would represent the narrative
we are trying to get across.
We used our own Brentford School For Girls uniform to
portray the younger years in secondary school between the
artist and the friend. This was to show how they were
young in those days, to how they are now.
School uniform represents the times when our artist and
friend were much year. This could also show how time has
flown by to quickly.

Costume-Headscarf and
Stethoscope

The headscarf was something we had to include. This was

to portray the idea of Illness of our Ill person. The loss of
hair is common for many who are diagnosed with Cancer,
therefore we had to include this in our costume.

For the doctor scene, we didnt have the typical doctor

uniform. So we therefore came up with the idea of using a
Stethoscope to represent our doctor. We used this as many
doctors are seen with this object. Its also normally
associated with the medical profession therefore it would
work well to just use this.

Make-up

The make-up was another key thing vital in our production.

We wanted to make sure that it came out properly and
portrays our Ill person quite well. Therefore before doing
our production we all did intensive research into the types
of make-up that we can use for our Ill person.

We used make-up to represent the factors of Illness and for

our audience to identify this. This symbolises the Illness of
our character.

Location-Hospital

When it comes to portraying the narrative of Illness, we had

to think about ways to show this through our mise-enscene.

For our filming we used the Hospital when our Ill person
goes to see her doctor. We used this place as many people
go here for various reasons. The main reason for us was to
find out the type of Illness she has been diagnosed with.
The hospital is related to patients and doctors therefore it
was key that we showed this within our music video.

Costume-Ill person
We used causal but dark clothing for
our Ill person to represent the idea of
depression. It has negative imagery

Flashbacks and Colour

For the memory scene of the protagonist and her friend in

the park with school uniform, we wanted to make sure that
the audience knew this was a memory/flashback. Therefore
by having White and Black for these scenes, this connotes
the idea of the past as the colours black and white
represent this.

For the colour grading in our music video we used a low

colour grading. We made our overall video look quite pale
to portray the idea of our music video being depressing. If
the colour grading was bright it wouldnt represent the idea
of depression in the same way as it now.

Andrew Goodwin states that there should be a clear link

between the visuals and lyrics. Therefore by making our
narrative relate to such a sensitive topic Illness, this shows
a clear link within our lyrics as its about someone
suffering/going through a hard time in their life.